So I have officially finish my first week of major outreach. It has been an amazing last seven days with everything I experienced. Last week was jam packed full of Auslifes. This program is so different to anything I have seen in the States because Queensland allows God to be taught in the schools. It's quite incredible doing a program that introduces foundational values to these kids and also brings in the element of God. It blew me away on how well the kids behaved and how many positive responses we received to what our team was bringing. The best part about it is that all the kids that had some sort of a response to the program are able to be followed up by a person called a Chaplain. Most of the schools in Queensland have Chaplains for extra moral support for the kids and the problems they encounter on a day to day basis. So all the kids that went through Auslife and wanted to know more about God are able to go talk to the Chappies and have someone to continue to build them up. It has been awesome getting to be apart of God's plan during this time. I am looking forward to see what will happen next week and excited to see what God has in store for me.
Hope you all are well.
Nate
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Just before I leave for outreach...
It amazes me that I have just completed two thirds of my DTS. Friday was my last day of lectures and tomorrow I leave for my major outreach. It seems to me that I have only been here for a fraction of the time but as I think back at all I have learned and the time I spent with God, it is evident to me that I have been bearing the fruit that comes out of fourteen weeks of lectures and outreach.
As I began to try and prepare myself for the next six weeks of outreach and walking into something completely new, I came to the realization that there was no point of me to try and prepare. If I try to predict what might happen or try to figure out what God might possible do, I realize now, that I would be putting God into an entirely way too small of a box and I wouldn’t let anything happen the way it should. Plus I would be for too over whelmed at all the thing that are going to come. I’ve decided the less I know the better, just give me what I need to know and I will run with it. So I will give you all the gist of what I know. First stop is in Gladstone and there we will be working with the schools doing Auslife. The only thing that I really know about Auslife is that the schools give us time with the kids to impart foundational values into their lives through games, talks and small group discussions. Then we head up the coast to Makay and Airlie Beach. At these destinations my team and I will work with a backpackers ministry and a camp for “troubled” youth. Next we head all the way back to Mount Isa for around a week. I’m still not sure if we know what we are doing there but I figure it will be a lot like the first time we went. Lastly we will go to Maggie Island during schoolies to work with Red Frogs crew. Really the only thing I know about our last stop is that schoolies is like an Australian version of spring break. So I’m assuming it will be a pretty intense time for my team and I to be a true representation of Christ.
That’s about all I know of the next six weeks of my adventure. I’m doing everything possible to go into this time with an open mind and an open heart. Only God knows what this time will hold and I hope I will be in the position to allow his will for this time to be done. I appreciate everyones prayers and thoughts and if you would keep them coming it would be a huge blessing.
I don’t know if I will be able to write a blog in the next six weeks, due to lack of internet or time. If I do get the opportunity I will be sure to send something your way. I will also be sure to come back with stories and heaps of photos. Hope you all are well.
As I began to try and prepare myself for the next six weeks of outreach and walking into something completely new, I came to the realization that there was no point of me to try and prepare. If I try to predict what might happen or try to figure out what God might possible do, I realize now, that I would be putting God into an entirely way too small of a box and I wouldn’t let anything happen the way it should. Plus I would be for too over whelmed at all the thing that are going to come. I’ve decided the less I know the better, just give me what I need to know and I will run with it. So I will give you all the gist of what I know. First stop is in Gladstone and there we will be working with the schools doing Auslife. The only thing that I really know about Auslife is that the schools give us time with the kids to impart foundational values into their lives through games, talks and small group discussions. Then we head up the coast to Makay and Airlie Beach. At these destinations my team and I will work with a backpackers ministry and a camp for “troubled” youth. Next we head all the way back to Mount Isa for around a week. I’m still not sure if we know what we are doing there but I figure it will be a lot like the first time we went. Lastly we will go to Maggie Island during schoolies to work with Red Frogs crew. Really the only thing I know about our last stop is that schoolies is like an Australian version of spring break. So I’m assuming it will be a pretty intense time for my team and I to be a true representation of Christ.
That’s about all I know of the next six weeks of my adventure. I’m doing everything possible to go into this time with an open mind and an open heart. Only God knows what this time will hold and I hope I will be in the position to allow his will for this time to be done. I appreciate everyones prayers and thoughts and if you would keep them coming it would be a huge blessing.
I don’t know if I will be able to write a blog in the next six weeks, due to lack of internet or time. If I do get the opportunity I will be sure to send something your way. I will also be sure to come back with stories and heaps of photos. Hope you all are well.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Back from Minor Outreach.
Dear Friends,
I have just returned from outreach and glad to say it went very well. The last three weeks have been jam packed full of new experiences and adventure. During this time the team and I have lead school programs, church services, a youth camp and did a bunch of praying. Through all these experiences all the class time I have received has come in to use and became more valuable than I realized it would be.
Mount Isa was the first stop on our trip and a great first introduction to outreach. One of the days we were there we did a school program that we able to lead for a group of 11th graders. Here we were able to share biblical truths with them and get to see in what ways these ideas could help them in there day to day lives. Another opportunity we were able to serve in was an evening church service for young aboriginal kids, we had so much fun singing songs, doing a drama and playing games. To top off the time in Isa the team and I went to the top of a mountain and prayed with a man named Ray who has been praying every Tuesday night at 5:30 for the last eleven years. It was a real humbling experience getting to pray with him for his city and to witness, first hand, such dedication and passion to see something change.
The second half of outreach we spent with with eleven high school kids from Melbourne. The first week we spent time discipling these young kids a lot like we had been through the first ten weeks of our DTS. After that, as a big group we ventured to Palm Island were we spent the next week serving the community and one of the local churches as much as we could. Palm is a much different place than the rest of Australia in the way that most people consider it to be the closest thing to a third world community that is still a part of a first world nation. We also learned that the people of Palm have a lot of hurt from the past in the way the government and caucasians have treated them, so we did everything we could to be an example of Christ and to help mend the wounds that are there.
It’s crazy to think that these last three weeks were just a taste of what is to come on my major outreach. I am doing well and looking towards the next two weeks of lectures, then it’s off again on outreach. Thank you all for all your prayer and if you would keep them coming that would be much appreciated.
Hope you all are well.
N.G.
Mount Isa. The whole town is built around this mine and that tack is a giant lead smelter.
A late afternoon at the beach on Palm with the Jetty.
I have just returned from outreach and glad to say it went very well. The last three weeks have been jam packed full of new experiences and adventure. During this time the team and I have lead school programs, church services, a youth camp and did a bunch of praying. Through all these experiences all the class time I have received has come in to use and became more valuable than I realized it would be.
Mount Isa was the first stop on our trip and a great first introduction to outreach. One of the days we were there we did a school program that we able to lead for a group of 11th graders. Here we were able to share biblical truths with them and get to see in what ways these ideas could help them in there day to day lives. Another opportunity we were able to serve in was an evening church service for young aboriginal kids, we had so much fun singing songs, doing a drama and playing games. To top off the time in Isa the team and I went to the top of a mountain and prayed with a man named Ray who has been praying every Tuesday night at 5:30 for the last eleven years. It was a real humbling experience getting to pray with him for his city and to witness, first hand, such dedication and passion to see something change.
The second half of outreach we spent with with eleven high school kids from Melbourne. The first week we spent time discipling these young kids a lot like we had been through the first ten weeks of our DTS. After that, as a big group we ventured to Palm Island were we spent the next week serving the community and one of the local churches as much as we could. Palm is a much different place than the rest of Australia in the way that most people consider it to be the closest thing to a third world community that is still a part of a first world nation. We also learned that the people of Palm have a lot of hurt from the past in the way the government and caucasians have treated them, so we did everything we could to be an example of Christ and to help mend the wounds that are there.
It’s crazy to think that these last three weeks were just a taste of what is to come on my major outreach. I am doing well and looking towards the next two weeks of lectures, then it’s off again on outreach. Thank you all for all your prayer and if you would keep them coming that would be much appreciated.
Hope you all are well.
N.G.
Mount Isa. The whole town is built around this mine and that tack is a giant lead smelter.
A late afternoon at the beach on Palm with the Jetty.
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